Ameriflex Group Inc. Has $127,000 Stock Position in BlackRock $BLK

Ameriflex Group Inc. raised its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 123 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $127,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,027,419,000 after buying an additional 387,466 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 73.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,243,059,000 after buying an additional 555,098 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 10.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,206,935 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,142,340,000 after buying an additional 111,694 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 32.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,071,339,000 after buying an additional 279,336 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 13.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 932,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $882,970,000 after buying an additional 108,473 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BLK shares. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,224.00 to $1,396.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $959.00 to $1,210.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,213.67.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.0%

BlackRock stock opened at $1,160.75 on Friday. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $773.74 and a 1-year high of $1,183.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $179.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $1,129.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,028.18. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.41 by $1.64. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The firm had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $10.36 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total value of $20,301,321.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 19,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,617,148. This trade represents a 48.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 14,828 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,122.28, for a total transaction of $16,641,167.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 263,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $296,002,472.28. This represents a 5.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573 over the last ninety days. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About BlackRock

BlackRock, Inc is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors including corporate, public, union, and industry pension plans, insurance companies, third-party mutual funds, endowments, public institutions, governments, foundations, charities, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, official institutions, and banks.